Encore for Monomoy Theatre

Saturday

Jan 4, 2020 at 8:24 PMJan 5, 2020 at 6:44 AM

Three summer shows planned for temporary location while new owner of Main Street site develops plan for theater, restaurant and housing complex

CHATHAM — For a group of Monomoy Theatre alumni, singing the traditional New Year’s Eve tune — “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind” — must have taken on added significance at First Night Chatham.

That was the finale Tuesday in a Friends of Monomoy Theatre program featuring artistic director Alan Rust, several adult guest artists, more than a dozen former student performers, and many songs and scenes that included the theme of remembering. “Don’t forget us” was the point of being part of the annual celebration at all, according to Rust.

His announcement following the show carried the same purpose: Monomoy will produce three shows this summer at a temporary location in Chatham. Details are still being worked out and will be revealed soon, he told the crowd, later saying that plans are for one show to be a musical and the venue to be downtown.

Both Tuesday’s performance and the summer shows are “just to keep the name alive,” he said. That’s important because for a second year, Monomoy Theatre is likely to have no permanent summer home.

The training program for college students — which produced eight shows in 10 summer weeks — went dark for the first time in 60 years in 2019, after the Main Street property that the program had long leased was to be sold to Newton developer/part-time town resident Greg Clark.

Now working as Chatham Productions LLC, Clark, founder of Alexandra Construction in Newton Upper Falls, officially bought the property at 776 Main St. and 70 Depot Road in September for $3.65 million.

Clark first unveiled his preliminary future plans in a late-November preapplication conference with the town’s Historic Business District Commission, and members did a site visit a few days later. Plans included restoring and expanding the theater complex — as well as putting 10 two-story buildings for over-55 housing on the back portion of the land.

Scott Hamilton, co-president of the Friends of Monomoy fundraising group, was “cautiously optimistic” in April that a new version of the summer University of Hartford performance program could open at its former home once the renovation was completed. Clark early on told Monomoy and town officials that the training program for college students could potentially be a summer tenant.

Multiple town and state approvals would be needed for the renovation project, though, and no meetings are as yet scheduled to consider formal plans, according to town officials. Clark did not return phone calls this week about his projected timeline.

But it seems unlikely that project could be completed for a 2020 summer season there, which is why Monomoy officials plan to stage shows elsewhere.

It was at the company’s First Night show a year ago that Rust announced that the future of the longtime Monomoy program was at risk. After the Chatham Board of Health found safety violations in the student housing, there was disagreement between the sponsoring University of Hartford program and property owner Steindler Family Trust about who should pay for repairs. University officials decided not to renew the lease.

That set in motion the sale of the property to Clark. While Monomoy Theatre supporters had hoped to buy the property themselves, Clark made it clear at the Nov. 20 meeting that he wants to save the main historic theater buildings and continue their cultural use.

Beyond the new age-restricted housing, the plans also include a small restaurant, a retail shop related to the theater, and dormitory housing for actors. To accomplish that, though, four smaller buildings used by the Monomoy program would be demolished or moved. Clark told town officials that he wants the property to be active year-round.

“We’re proposing that it not just be a summer theater. We’re proposing that during the offseason, there can be other things happening there,” he said. The community could use the space, and traveling shows could be brought in, “so the rest of the year, (the theater) isn’t just dark,” he added.

Clark told officials he is working with the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the National Park Service (which oversees the National Register of Historic Places) to get historic designation for what’s known as the Washington Taylor house along Main Street, which was used for student and staff living space, and the theater itself, which was a former barn. Historic designation can affect tax liability.

The buildings due for demolition — in part because they are not in good structural shape, according to Clark — would be the refreshment stand, a shed used for storage and another stand-alone building that had been used for housing. Clark hopes to relocate a building used as a scene shop to connect it to the theater as rehearsal space. Additions would also be made for restrooms and for a new scene shop.

The addition for retail space and the restaurant would have dormitory housing above them, he said, and one would connect the main house and theater into one complex. The dorms could potentially be used for other temporary workers when students aren’t there, he said.

The restaurant, which could offer light tapas and drinks for pre- and post-show meals, “pulls the whole thing together as a fully functioning theater” in the same style as at the Cape Playhouse complex in Dennis, he said.

The preliminary plans show the theater entrance relocated, and parking designated in a front lot along Main Street as well as along the side and back of the theater. The entrance and parking for the over-55 housing would be accessed from Depot Road.

There are numerous meetings and discussions ahead in 2020, though, and the plans, Clark emphasized, are “still moving.”

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